5 Level Mortice Lock Handle Wont go down 3 January at 4:14PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 14 replies 441 views

jbellj

Hello - my front door is currently inoperable.

The door is locked (and the bolt unlocks with the key) but the handle wont go down.

It does go up to a fully vertical position but wont go past 90 degrees horizontally.

There also appears to be little to no tension in the handle when we move it up.


Any advice before I call a locksmith?

Norman_Castle

Take the handle off the door then try turning the square bar. Mortice lock with a handle is a sashlock.

jbellj

I've taken the handle off - the square bar won't move, totally jammed.

ThisIsWeird

Photo so we can see exact type, please.

casper_gutman

I've never seen a lever lock of any description with a handle you have to raise. For that matter, not many mortice locks work that way either. This sounds more like a multipoint locking system. I definitely think a photo could help here!

jbellj

This is a multi point locking system 

jbellj

Apologies, I'm not overly sure of the lock handle types but as you said, it's definitely a multipoint locking system. 

Handle goes up, won't go down and bar won't turn either. 

FreeBear

Your gearbox is broken - Had the same thing happen to me. With a bit of brute force, managed to push the handle down to get the door unlocked. After that, it was fairly easy to remove the mechanism and order a replacement. Mine was an obsolete model, but found a supplier on ebay that had stocks.

ThisIsWeird

jbellj said:

Handle goes up, won't go down and bar won't turn either. 

So it essentially behaves as tho' it was still locked? But def 'unlocks'?

Before fully resorting to FB's brute force, put a spanner or wrench on the spindle so you can manipulate it easily, and keep upping-and-downing it repeatedly whilst locking & unlocking the key.

Try every combination of moves; fully up - hold - lock and unlock key - slowly down. Hard up ditto. Try sloooow movements to the full extent each way, and then sharp punchy actions to the other - ie, try slowly turning the spindle to the hard max 'handle up' position, and then 'snap' it down and stop it there - don't let it 'bounce'.

When you turn the spindle to be as low as it goes (ie stuck horizontal handle position) and hold it firmly there, does the key still turn without issue?

Ah well, become steadily more brutish...

GDB2222

If the lock doesn’t open, does the door need to be replaced?

greenface2

Make sure its probably unlocked and put a house knife where the claws are top n bottom or mortice and try tapping them back into the door . the middle mortice can be possibly opened by then forcing the spindle . or using a few wedges try opening the locks . If theyre still engaged a whizzer and new metal blade and cut through it .